New Delhi: The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has developed a Master Plan for Puducherry airport with the provision for operation of A-320 class of aircraft, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said in Parliament.
Responding to a question raised by Member of Parliament V. Vaithilingam on the status of expansion of the Puducherry airport, Naidu said that the AAI Master Plan envisaged an extended runway length of 2,300m and 45m width.
The total additional land requirement will be 402 acres, out of which 217 acres are situated in Tamil Nadu and 185 acres are in Puducherry. The Master Plan has been shared with the Government of Puducherry, the Minister said.
Responding to another part of the starred question, Mohan Naidu said the Puducherry airport was currently connected to Hyderabad and Bengaluru.
To the MP’s query on whether the Union government proposed measures for operating flights from Puducherry to Kochi and Shirdi in view of a large number of people travelling to these places, the Civil Aviation Minister said airlines were free to decide on markets/routes following the deregulation of the aviation sector in the country.
“With the repeal of Air Corporation Act in March 1994, the Indian domestic aviation has been deregulated. Airlines are free to induct capacity with any aircraft type, free to select whatever markets and network/route they wish to service, depending on their commercial and operational feasibility,” the Minister said in his reply.
